Bratislava Day 1
As I wrote in my last post, I keep a mental list of places that I’ve never visited despite their proximity to Prague. Until the end of this year, this list somehow included Bratislava, the capital of our sister nation, the coronation city of Hungarian kings, and the first foreign destination of all Czech presidents.
My opportunity to visit Bratislava arrived
on December 29th, as I was calling on a friend in Brno and needed to
bridge this escapade with plans to visit the Vienna State Opera with my dad on
the 31st. Arriving at the train station just in time for the 14:22
train, I hopped into a random carriage while frantically purchasing the ticket
on my phone. I succeeded, and my ride was spiced up by a conversation with my
fellow passengers: a hobbyist mandala painter and two American students who had
spent five years learning Slovak.
With daylight dwindling, I made a mad dash
through the most important sights of Bratislava. Coming from the train station,
I stopped by the Presidential Palace before entering the pedestrianised old
town through Michael’s Gate. The streetlamps turned on at that precise moment.
I walked a little further into the old town before turning east and, trying to
outrun the rapidly descending night, ended up at the Blue Church. This art
nouveau gem, dedicated to Elisabeth of Hungary, is renowned not only for its
unusual colour, but also for its gingerbread-house-like showiness. It was
completed just before the First World War.
I spent the rest of the evening walking
around at a more leisurely pace, having resigned myself to seeing everything in
the stark light of reflectors. I tried to visit Saint Martin’s Cathedral, but
it was closed for minor renovations. Before returning to my hotel, I bought
some street-style halušky, a traditional Slovak dish not dissimilar to the Austrian classic Käsespätzle.
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